Latest news with #Oliver-Wolff
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Holocaust survivor granted town's highest honour
A Holocaust survivor has been honoured with Eastbourne's highest award. Dorit Oliver-Wolff BEM was granted the Freedom of the Borough by Eastbourne Borough Council during a ceremony at the Town Hall on Wednesday, May 21. Mrs Oliver-Wolff, who was born in Yugoslavia in 1936, endured years of hiding and near starvation after her home country was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941. Her father was killed, and the experiences profoundly shaped her life. After the war, she rebuilt her life and became a successful singer and top 10 recording artist in Germany. In recent years, she has lived in Eastbourne and dedicated her time to sharing her story and educating others about the Holocaust. She was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education and awareness in 2019. The motion to confer the Freedom of the Borough honour was put forward by Councillor Robert Smart and seconded by Councillor Stephen Holt. The symbolic and ceremonial honour, which dates back to the Middle Ages, recognises eminent services or achievements. A council spokesperson said: "Eastbourne Borough Council has honoured Holocaust survivor Dorit Oliver-Wolff BEM by bestowing her with its highest award, Freedom of the Borough. "Mrs Oliver-Wolff BEM was admitted as an Honorary Freewoman of the Borough of Eastbourne in recognition and appreciation of her extraordinary life, her outstanding contribution to Eastbourne and its community, her work as a freedom fighter and campaigner for human rights, her dedication to Holocaust education and her passion to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten."
BBC News
27-01-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Eastbourne: Holocaust survivor recalls four years of hiding
A Holocaust survivor who hid in a cellar with her mother for nine months without light or heating says she will continue to educate people "as long as I have a breath in my body".Dorit Oliver-Wolff, who lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, resided in Budapest when she was first forced to hide from the Nazis at the age of 89-year-old continues to tell her story as Sussex, Kent and Surrey honours Holocaust Memorial Day, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, where more than a million people were years later, Ms Oliver-Wolff - who was given a British Empire Medal in 2020 – said she was adamant that "anti-Semitism must not be repeated again". From 1941, Ms Oliver-Wolff and her mother spent four years in hiding - including nine months in a was caught twice, managing to escape both times. On one occasion, Ms Oliver-Wolff was turned into the Nazis by the woman who looked after her while she was recalled: "The door burst open, 'this is the stinking little Jew who is hiding here, she is contaminating the air. I just want to get rid of her'."After being taken away by Adolf Hitler's SS group, she was taken to a processing house in Budapest from which she managed to escape in excrement-filled sheets."The smell of ammonia made my eyes water," she events were held on Monday in Tunbridge Wells and Woking, while people can attend a candle vigil in Brighton city centre until 17:00 on Monday evening, there is to be an event in Eastbourne, while Medway's commemoration will take place at a school near Rochester.
